British Literature from the 20th century to the Present - OIBA2A113A

• Title: British Literature from the 20th century to the Present
• Guaranteed by: Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury (41-KAJL)
• Faculty: Faculty of Education
• Actual: from 2019
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 0
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:1/2, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Guarantor: doc. PhDr. Petr Chalupský, Ph.D.

Annotation

Last update: doc. PhDr. Petr Chalupský, Ph.D. (04.05.2019)

This course focuses on the major developments of 20th century fiction and poetry although, where relevant, drama is also mentioned. While the series of lectures will provide a general social and cultural context for the variety of rapid developments within these genres, the seminars will focus on individual works (listed below) encouraging students to develop critical close-reading techniques as well as to explore broader moral, philosophical and aesthetic issues. Not only the texts selected reflect the cultural plurality of 20th century British literature, they at the same time “speak to each other” in a number of ways. In the close critical discussions students will be encouraged to discover some recurrent concerns within this diversity (of texts) as well as use their knowledge of previous developments within individual genres.

Literature

Last update: doc. PhDr. Petr Chalupský, Ph.D. (04.05.2019)

Bradbury, Malcolm, The Modern British Novel (Penguin Books 1994)

English, James F., (ed.), Contemporary British Fiction (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing 2006)

Head, Dominic, Modern British Fiction, 1950-2000 (Cambridge University Press 2002)

Hilský, Martin, Modernisté (Praha: Torst 1995)

Innes, Christopher, Modern British Drama: The Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press 2002)

Lane, R.J., Mengham, R., Tew, P., (eds.) Contemporary British Fiction (Cambridge: Polity Press 2003)

Rogers, Pat (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature (Oxford University Press 1994)

Sanders, Andrew, The Short Oxford History of English Literature (Oxford University Press 2004)

 

Syllabus

Last update: doc. PhDr. Petr Chalupský, Ph.D. (04.05.2019)

Fiction

- Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
- D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers
- Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway
- James Joyce: “Eveline”

- Christopher Isherwood: Goodbye to Berlin (extract)
- Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange
- John Fowles: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
- Kazuo Ishiguro: The Remains of the Day

- Zadie Smith: White Teeth

- Ian McEwan: Atonement

 

 Poetry

- W. B. Yeats: “The Second Coming”

- T. S. Eliot: “The Hollow Men”
- W. H. Auden: “Musée des Beaux Arts”
- Philip Larkin: “Church Going”
- Seamus Heaney: “Punishment”

- Craig Raine: “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home”

- Carol Ann Duffy: “Valentine”

- Benjamin Zephaniah: “Dis Poetry”

 

Drama

     - Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot

     - John Osborne: Look Back in Anger

Course completion requirements

Last update: doc. PhDr. Petr Chalupský, Ph.D. (04.05.2019)

- weekly reading assignments, regular attendance (2 absences allowed), active participation in classroom discussions + 1 essay (1000 words without quotes) on a selected topic based on the texts discussed in the classes